Spoiler Discussion Thread

[Sunshine]

Maybe it's Oliver to Lance because he (Lance) is interested in Dinah. Ha!

[wonderwall]

9 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

 

Isn't Curtis supposed to be winning Paul back? So I'd say Curtis to Rene or Oliver, or really anyone on the team.

Everyone gets story arc and story arc except Felicity.

 

Curtis has hardly had a storyline IMO. And I'd argue Felicity actually has the biggest storyline of the bunch right now. 

Oliver - IDK what they're doing with him but his arc isn't very clear cut
Diggle - Literally doing nothing right now
Dinah - Is basically wallpaper
Thea - Has her 'becoming Moira' arc but the show won't explore it for too long b/c she's likely leaving after episode 15
Rene - There's no clear arc for him other than becoming a vigilante
Curtis - 5 minutes dedicated to his husband leaving him and maybe Curtis winning him back? That's peanuts
Felicity - Her boyfriend was killed which was the spark to her 'dark arc' in which she started to become more rogue by sussing out Laurel on her own as well as by figuring out where the bomb was on her own... Not only that but she's started recklessly becoming more dependent on Pandora which we'll see will have its consequences. She's even used this to get Diggle out of jail which was an extremely important plot point.

I'd much rather Felicity keep the story she has now than have what any of the other newbies/Thea/Oliver are having... which is either scraps or nonsense.

[LadyChaos]

6 minutes ago, wonderwall said:

Curtis has hardly had a storyline IMO. And I'd argue Felicity actually has the biggest storyline of the bunch right now. 

Oliver - IDK what they're doing with him but his arc isn't very clear cut
Diggle - Literally doing nothing right now
Dinah - Is basically wallpaper
Thea - Has her 'becoming Moira' arc but the show won't explore it for too long b/c she's likely leaving after episode 15
Rene - There's no clear arc for him other than becoming a vigilante
Curtis - 5 minutes dedicated to his husband leaving him and maybe Curtis winning him back? That's peanuts
Felicity - Her boyfriend was killed which was the spark to her 'dark arc' in which she started to become more rogue by sussing out Laurel on her own as well as by figuring out where the bomb was on her own... Not only that but she's started recklessly becoming more dependent on Pandora which we'll see will have its consequences. She's even used this to get Diggle out of jail which was an extremely important plot point.

I'd much rather Felicity keep the story she has now than have what any of the other newbies/Thea/Oliver are having... which is either scraps or nonsense.

I'm over the newbies at this point......I just want my OTA back....so could we please just trim the fat off?

[Chaser]

SA said that Olicity broke up because of lack of trust and he let her go. Can I take that too mean that they put them back together by building trust and having him go after her?

[apinknightmare]

8 minutes ago, Chaser said:

SA said that Olicity broke up because of lack of trust and he let her go. Can I take that too mean that they put them back together by building trust and having him go after her?

I thought for sure the show had moved past all break-up related issues into Things We Don't Talk About Anymore. That SA so clearly identified them does make me think that it's likely it is addressed at some point (only because I don't think it's something he's thought that much about, but maybe saw in a script or something), but I don't wanna get my hopes up.

Edited March 1, 2017 by apinknightmare

[Sunshine]

Probably not.  Seems like WM says the whole purpose of Felicity's arc is so she can profoundly understand Oliver.  She's probably going to him once she does.

[LadyChaos]

1 minute ago, Chaser said:

SA said that Olicity broke up because of lack of trust and he let her go. Can I take that too mean that they put them back together by building trust and having him go after her?

I certainly hope so.....but given the song that MG chose.......it rather implies that they he will tell her he still loves her, and then just wait for her to decide what to do..

My guess is that they will have their 'adult discussion' about Helix and a lot of things will come out.  He will probably tell her that he rushed his relationship with Susan and  that if for one moment he thought he still had a chance with FS he would be there with her in a second, but she says she doesn't know if she can given where she is at with her life right now (I.E. havenrock, helix, PTSD), but then in 520 she will show up at his door and tell him that she still loves him.

[wonderwall]

Just now, LadyChaos said:

I'm over the newbies at this point......I just want my OTA back....so could we please just trim the fat off?

This is what I want too. There literally is no need for wallpaper (dinah), some cardboard (Curtis), and a wet blanket (Rene)

[Sunshine]

Do we still think the "adult conversation" is taking place in 5.15?    

[apinknightmare]

1 minute ago, Sunshine said:

Do we still think the "adult conversation" is taking place in 5.15?    

I thought the adult conversation was about Felicity's secret keeping, which SA mentioned took place in 15?

Edited March 1, 2017 by apinknightmare

[LadyChaos]

1 minute ago, Sunshine said:

Do we still think the "adult conversation" is taking place in 5.15?    

In 515 the team finds out sans Oliver, spec is that Oliver finds out in 516, since FS is told by Helix that they need a favor from her before they will allow her to use Pandora anymore...... my guess is that she will need to tell Oliver because its about him or he ends up having to bail her out.

Edited March 1, 2017 by LadyChaos

[LeighAn]

6 minutes ago, Chaser said:

SA said that Olicity broke up because of lack of trust and he let her go. Can I take that too mean that they put them back together by building trust and having him go after her?

 

3 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

I thought for sure the show had moved past all break-up related issues into Things We Don't Talk About Anymore. That SA so clearly identified them does make me think that it's likely it is addressed at some point, but I don't wanna get my hopes up.

That's what I'm thinking. Stephen was very specific in his answers and usually when he gets specific like that it's because of abetting that's either happened or is coming up. 

[insomniadreams88]

3 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

I thought the adult conversation was about Felicity's secret keeping, which SA mentioned took place in 15?

That's what I thought too. But there are two sources for this, right? One from a con, where SA said something about 515 and a secret that others know before him, and then an interview about an "adult conversation." 

[Sunshine]

I think the adult conversation is about keeping secrets too.  I just wondered if because Helix is blocking access unless she does something in return that it might prompt the conversation if she can't provide info to Oliver in 5.16.  SA actually said around 15.  

Edited March 1, 2017 by Sunshine

[statsgirl]

On this show "adult conversation" usually means lack of emotion and most often a lack of getting to the core issues so I'm expecting Oliver telling Felicity that keeping secrets causes problems and she says "I know, I've worked with your secrets for more than four years now" and then they move on to the n00bs.  Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow night but right now it feels like this is a placeholder, a bone thrown to viewers so they don't tune out because of lack of Felicity and Olicity

6 hours ago, apinknightmare said:

He wasn't elected, so I'm not sure. It seems to me like the guy appointed by the guy who just got impeached for corruption might not be the best successor.

ETA: Not that that matters for Arrow.

My city has three deputy mayors but they're also all elected councillors.  On the other hand, as @AyChihuahua said, if the president is impeached than his selected vice president takes over.  I think it all boils down to what the show wants to do with Quentin. Being mayor would be a good holding place so he can help them when they need help but has a real job so it explains why he's not around much. It also give Rene something do to if he still around next season. (Between Rene and Mon El, Arroverse is working my last nerve on arrogant males.)

4 hours ago, wonderwall said:

Curtis has hardly had a storyline IMO. And I'd argue Felicity actually has the biggest storyline of the bunch right now. 

Oliver - IDK what they're doing with him but his arc isn't very clear cut
Diggle - Literally doing nothing right now
Dinah - Is basically wallpaper
Thea - Has her 'becoming Moira' arc but the show won't explore it for too long b/c she's likely leaving after episode 15
Rene - There's no clear arc for him other than becoming a vigilante
Curtis - 5 minutes dedicated to his husband leaving him and maybe Curtis winning him back? That's peanuts
Felicity - Her boyfriend was killed which was the spark to her 'dark arc' in which she started to become more rogue by sussing out Laurel on her own as well as by figuring out where the bomb was on her own... Not only that but she's started recklessly becoming more dependent on Pandora which we'll see will have its consequences. She's even used this to get Diggle out of jail which was an extremely important plot point.

I'd much rather Felicity keep the story she has now than have what any of the other newbies/Thea/Oliver are having... which is either scraps or nonsense.

At this point, Felicity's Dark Arc storyline has been promoted far more than it's been shown.  What we've had is someone giving her a USB key in an episode heavy with Oliver, Rene and Curtis going to get Tinah.  Tinah had way more time in that episode than Felicity did.  Bratva had the most about this darkness, with Felicity not reacting when Diggle beat up the General's guy and blackmailing the Russian to get access to his internet.  Since then she's found into on Claybourne's mistress and put stuff on Susan's computer, the first is something she would have done anyway and the second was on Thea.  I don't think her three short scenes in 514 are anything more than Felicity-in-the-background that she's been much of this year.

Curtis - had his grown into a bad fighter and his marriage broke up but now he's designing weapons, mentoring Rene and he's got a new suit.  He's also taken over Felicity's role's of comic relief and tech support in the field. I doubt you'll see her with her tablet running things again the way she was in at the end of s2.

Oliver - all over the show -- he's the mayor, he's mentoring the n00bs, he's got Shady Susan and her storyline, he's working with Lance and Dinah and horrified at what Thea is doing. And the flashbacks are his.

Diggle - just finished his military/prison arc episode before last.  And Lyla is coming back.

Thea - she's got the  mini-Moira dark arc and Oliver concerned about her that we though Felicity was going to get.

Dinah - in the four episodes since she first appeared, she's agreed to join Team Arrow, gone with them to Russia to help Oliver do Anatoly a favour and given him advice on Diggle and Felicity, joined the police for in public and replaced the Black Canary in private.

Rene - too much airtime for me  reluctant recruit, kidnapped by Church, bonding with Diggle, bonding with Curtis, and the gun flashbacks.  Keeps telling us he's just like Oliver.  Curtis will help him get Zoe back.

Other than her relationship with Billy, that everyone seems to have forgotten about this season (who knew I would be wanting the show to do more on it?), Felicity's really had nothing of her own  this season.  She helped Oliver form a new team, she had Havenrock guilt for 2 episodes to get Rory to join, her boyfriend got killed but that's all about Oliver's guilt.  Even her shooting and paralysis was totally ignored in the gun debate episode.  Brian Ford Sullivan said that Havenrock would factor into her dark arc starting 5.10 but I haven't seen any of that yet.

Edited March 1, 2017 by statsgirl

[Morrigan2575]

4 hours ago, insomniadreams88 said:

That's what I thought too. But there are two sources for this, right? One from a con, where SA said something about 515 and a secret that others know before him, and then an interview about an "adult conversation." 

The Adult Conversation was about an episode they hadn't filmed yet, IIRC. At the time I assumed it was a much later episode, like 19 or 20

Edited March 1, 2017 by Morrigan2575

[Mellowyellow]

I wonder if they decided to change directions this season and stop giving Felicity as much screentime/storylines. But now with the ratings tank and no one giving a f*ck about Arrow on social media, they've decided to trot her out and pretend that she has a decent arc. 

Part of me expects we might not see much of Felicity until S6 if they do decide to repent for their bad decisions in S5.

I was happy with the episode when they went to Russia and now after two episodes of trash and very little Felicity time I am wondering if they are just peddling crap to keep people on the hook because they realise she's actually very popular. 

[statsgirl]

I think it's too late to do more than tinker with the storylines, especially since the final episodes are wrapping up the season and setting up the new one.   They may decide to send Rene away with his daughter, or they may decide they're going to keep him, but the story beats for this season are pretty much fixed.

13 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I was happy with the episode when they went to Russia and now after two episodes of trash and very little Felicity time I am wondering if they are just peddling crap to keep people on the hook because they realise she's actually very popular. 

After the fall episodes, which I was generally unhappy with and a MSF ending I hated, I was happy with 510, surprisingly, and thought the show was getting back on track.  511 was so-so, 512 in Russia looked like a lot of potential and then two episodes of meh Felicity and far too much n00bs I don't care about.

The writers have been talking about Dark Felicity for 2 1/2 months now and I've yet to see anything beyond a couple of scenes in 512 that showed anything of it, and even that was spoiled when she blew through Rory's good bye for that tweet.  It's like the "we'll deal with her Havenrock feelings in the first five episodes" that ended up being just four scenes to get Rory to stay on the team.  Show me a well-developed story or stop lying to me to get me to watch a show I wouldn't otherwise.

[Mellowyellow]

I still watch because Felicity is adorable and makes me smile! I'm also hopeful they'll course correct in s6.

I fast forward pretty much everything except Felicity so I'm not particularly shitty about wasting my time. Thank goodness for you guys filling in the blanks!

[apinknightmare]

4 hours ago, statsgirl said:

On the other hand, as @AyChihuahua said, if the president is impeached than his selected vice president takes over.

The selected Vice President is on a ballot. He/she gets elected. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by apinknightmare

[Velocity23]

Felicity still has the 2nd highest screentime. They have not reduced her screentime that much. There are just more characters in the lair.  Where is this info coming from that she isnt getting the screentime. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by Velocity23

[BkWurm1]

Quote

Brian Ford Sullivan said that Havenrock would factor into her dark arc starting 5.10 but I haven't seen any of that yet.

We saw her upset in Russia about what looked like another Havenrock in the making.  I think that was supposed to be Havenrock factoring in.  She was willing to go darker to get answers if it meant keeping another nuke out of the wrong hands.  

[dtissagirl]

1 minute ago, BkWurm1 said:

We saw her upset in Russia about what looked like another Havenrock in the making.  I think that was supposed to be Havenrock factoring in.  She was willing to go darker to get answers if it meant keeping another nuke out of the wrong hands.  

I've shifted my thinking about everything the writers say that sound like a storyline: it will not be a storyline. It will be a scene. 2-3 scenes at best. There is no more storyline. There are only scenes.

[theOAfc]

13 hours ago, calliope1975 said:

It feels like Felicity's island is literal. Oliver doesn't acknowledge they were together. Diggle barely acknowledges she's in the room. She has no job. She has no friends. She barely had a Mayo. She hangs out in the lair. An "island" should be more than being isolated, and that's besides the argument I would make that she's been through her own personal island years prior. 

After the hate over her mom/dad drama and her getting her own job etc she got from reddit last season,i expected she would be having nothing regarding her personal life shown this season. Cant have her steal the lead's focus now can we?(thats sarcasm btw)

Edited March 1, 2017 by theOAfc

[Morrigan2575]

30 minutes ago, Velocity23 said:

Felicity still has the 2nd highest screentime. They have not reduced her screentime that much. There are just more characters in the lair.  Where is this info coming from that she isnt getting the screentime. 

By far, she's 31 minutes ahead of Wild Dog and 40 minutes ahead of Curtis. 

Quite honestly the people who got really screwed are Diggle and Thea. Diggle has dropped from 3rd place to 5th and Thea has dropped to 7th (behind Ragman).

[dtissagirl]

7 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

By far, she's 31 minutes ahead of Wild Dog and 40 minutes ahead of Curtis. 

Quite honestly the people who got really screwed are Diggle and Thea. Diggle has dropped from 3rd place to 5th and Thea has dropped to 7th (behind Ragman).

Yeah, what IS going on with David Ramsey having so little screentime? Is he filming more Blue Bloods than usual?

[tangerine95]

Yeah Digg has nothing going on rn at all. We don't see his family, he doesn't have a job, they didn't connect him to the main plot in a bigger way etc.They have him babysitting the newbies just like in season 3.  It feels to me like his prison storyline wasn't really a storyline, it was a way to keep him to a limited screentime while having an excuse and the illusion of a big storyline.

And it's clearly because of the newbies but when I think about it it's not like the newbies have a big storyline or a relevant part in the main plot either. Like they all just exist to be on team arrow,  be masks and have comic book codenames and thats basically it. There's literally no relevant contribution to the story from any of them.I guess Rory and Evelyn did have a plot purpose, she was there to betray the team and Rory was support for Felicity's storyline and they left after their purpose was over. But Curtis, Dinah and Rene basically just take up screentime for nothing imo.  Makes it really obvious all these masks were a network request. 

I do think Felicity has it better than anyone apart from Oliver in terms of storyline and screentime in 5b at least. Even better than Oliver imo because her storyline is interesting and no part of it grosses me out. I like what they did with it so far, I just hope they don't make it underwhelming in the end after building it up like they've been doing. 

[Morrigan2575]

38 minutes ago, dtissagirl said:

Yeah, what IS going on with David Ramsey having so little screentime? Is he filming more Blue Bloods than usual?

I don't know but, I'm actually wondering if like SA, DR requested less filming so he could spend more time with his family.

What's really funny is that Oliver's screentime is higher this season compared to same episode run in S4 by about 16 minutes. If bringing in the noobs was supposed to lighten SA's filming schedule it really hasn't. Instead it's impacted the supporting cast, which is odd.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Morrigan2575

[Angel12d]

I know Felicity is second to Oliver in screentime. But it's what they do with that screentime that's my issue. For most of s5a she was just on comms, throwing out a funny every now and then or having a pointless scene with her pointless Mayo boyfriend. She's been totally cut off and isolated from everything/everyone that there's no real substance or connection anymore. It's weird. Even with the Thea/Felicity scenes (which I love and appreciate, don't get me wrong), it's more about what Felicity can do for Thea than anything about Felicity. She's very much in 'support everyone else' mode. I hope that changes soon. I'd like to see that anyone still gives a crap about her tbh.

And Diggle's decrease in screentime is really evident and when he is on screen it's more likely to prop the newbies than anything about Diggle. Grrrrrrr.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Angel12d

[Cleanqueen]

I do wonder if come next year they'll drop the newbies or keep them as still regulars...And if any of them will be updated to series regular status which I doubt.

Oliver will always have a story line, so I never factor him in to it but honestly after him I'd say felicity has the most established connection to the plot. I like the fact that it isn't an arc that's getting solved in 2-3 episodes and that we are getting little pieces in each episode that will probably carry her to the finale. Yeah she has no home life or outside activities which at this point makes sense but I am sure once her and Oliver are re-united we will see her outside of the lair often. We haven't even seen Diggle's apartment all season except when he got arrested. 

[apinknightmare]

5 minutes ago, Angel12d said:

Even with the Thea/Felicity scenes (which I love and appreciate, don't get me wrong), it's more about what Felicity can do for Thea than anything about Felicity.

Don't get me wrong - Arrow writes garbage storylines, but Felicity "doing" for Thea is the whole point since everything she does for Thea gets her deeper in with Helix. Not saying *that* storyline won't be garbage, but...

[Angel12d]

Just now, apinknightmare said:

Don't get me wrong - Arrow writes garbage storylines, but Felicity "doing" for Thea is the whole point since everything she does for Thea gets her deeper in with Helix. Not saying *that* storyline won't be garbage, but...

Oh yeah, I know. But it's just indicative of a bigger problem, IMO. That's all I was saying.

[tangerine95]

No one seems to have much of a life outside the bunker. I guess Oliver with the mayor stuff but that's another job. Even his relationship with Susan which is supposed to be the personal life storyline is mostly mayor scenes. Arrow really lacks those casual scenes where characters just hang out like friends and family and imo it really needs those type of scenes. They used to show us that and made an effort to get back to it in 4A but then it all became plot and action non stop and now with so many characters its even less likely. 

[Cleanqueen]

The fact that we didn't have a scene with Dinah meeting the team pretty much shows how much these writers care about emotional connection between team arrow. How can you fight alongside someone and put your trust in them to protect you if you have no deep connection with them. It's why people fell in love with OTA in the first place, that sense of comradery and familial like bond they had is what made their scenes enjoyable. Now we have 3 times the members and nothing that connects any of them.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Cleanqueen

[tangerine95]

14 minutes ago, Cleanqueen said:

The fact that we didn't have a scene with Dinah meeting the team pretty much shows how much these writers care about emotional connection between the team arrow. How can you fight alongside someone and put your trust in them to protect you if you have no deep connection with them. It's why people fell in love with OTA in the first place, that sense of comradery and familial like bond they had is what made their scenes enjoyable. Now we have 3 times the members and nothing that connects any of them.

Exactly and they used to know that was important. Like how Roy and Sara in season 2 got special introductions to Digg and Felicity. And how when Felicity joined, they made sure she bonded with Digg as well as with Oliver.  Now people just randomly join and sometimes don't really even talk to other characters on the team besides Oliver. Really no wonder the team dynamic sucks. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by tangerine95

[tv echo]

I still find it inexplicable that Oliver trusts Tinah so much after only knowing her for about a month. He barely vetted her - one phone call to the CCPD captain and a cursory background check that didn't even turn up her real name. After Evelyn, you'd think he'd be more careful.

Same goes for Susan (ditto to everything that's already been said about her).*

(* Same for Samantha last season, who Oliver introduced to the Arrowcave and his entire team, just because she was the mother of his son, and despite both the 10-year passage of time and her proven history of deception.)

There's optimism and there's blind ignorance. I really hope that both of these characters are revealed to be working with Prometheus, although I realize it's more likely with Susan than with Tinah (the best evah sidekick).

Edited March 1, 2017 by tv echo

[tv echo]

I just realized that the difference between past seasons of Arrow and this season of Arrow is kinda similar to the difference between the Marvel cinematic universe and the DC cinematic universe...

The Marvel cinematic universe introduced characters one at a time and developed their relationships slowly over time. Therefore, we felt and believed the emotional connections when the Avengers finally fought together - and then fought against each other.

The DC cinematic universe is throwing different characters at us all at once and onto the same team quickly, before we've gotten to know them individually.

Edited March 1, 2017 by tv echo

[Sunshine]

1 hour ago, dtissagirl said:

Yeah, what IS going on with David Ramsey having so little screentime? Is he filming more Blue Bloods than usual?

I just checked IMDb. It looks like he hasn't been in this season of Blue Bloods.  I don't know when his movie Illicit was filmed.  

[Morrigan2575]

36 minutes ago, tangerine95 said:

Exactly and they used to know that was important. 

I think this is an unfortunate issue of an aging show. While.it was going/developing/world building it was necessary to setup relationships and introductions. Now, the world has been built, they have their primary relationships established (even if they ignore them now) so now there's no need to 'waste' time on inter personal stuff when they can spend more time on action, plotty plot, etc.

The same was true, IMO or Smallville S9/S10, where the show just relied on comics make Lois/Clois happen. 

Ultimately I think it comes down to laziness

Edited March 1, 2017 by Morrigan2575

[dtissagirl]

12 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

I just checked IMDb. It looks like he hasn't been in this season of Blue Bloods.  I don't know when his movie Illicit was filmed.  

No, that movie was shot in 2015. Maybe he did ask for less days on set.

[Trisha]

1 hour ago, tangerine95 said:

No one seems to have much of a life outside the bunker. I guess Oliver with the mayor stuff but that's another job. Even his relationship with Susan which is supposed to be the personal life storyline is mostly mayor scenes. Arrow really lacks those casual scenes where characters just hang out like friends and family and imo it really needs those type of scenes. They used to show us that and made an effort to get back to it in 4A but then it all became plot and action non stop and now with so many characters its even less likely. 

I agree with this so much. Vulture's recap of last night's Flash said something similar; we need to see glimpses of these heroes in their downtime to fully understand/care about them. That's why the small scenes in Big Belly Burger with Oliver, Curtis and Rene in Second Chances worked for me. They actually felt like real people for half a second.

There was talk from one of the writers (BFS, maybe?) about Felicity evaluating her life outside the bunker -- or lack thereof. Is that still coming up or was he talking about an episode that already aired? I'd really like someone on this show to acknowledge how much her life must suck after everything she's lost in the past year...

[tangerine95]

8 minutes ago, Trisha said:

I agree with this so much. Vulture's recap of last night's Flash said something similar; we need to see glimpses of these heroes in their downtime to fully understand/care about them. That's why the small scenes in Big Belly Burger with Oliver, Curtis and Rene in Second Chances worked for me. They actually felt like real people for half a second.

There was talk from one of the writers (BFS, maybe?) about Felicity evaluating her life outside the bunker -- or lack thereof. Is that still coming up or was he talking about an episode that already aired? I'd really like someone on this show to acknowledge how much her life must suck after everything she's lost in the past year...

Yeah and it doesn't even have to be big scenes just give them a place like big belly burger to hang out in sometimes or just team dinners at Digg's or in the loft, stuff like that. They do that stuff on Flash, SG and  LoT so I don't see why arrow couldn't make the time or the effort.

He did say that and the closest to her questioning her life that we've seen I guess would be the scene with the hacker from helix when she asks her what she's been doing and mentions Felicity getting fired and seems to think Felicity wasted her potential and then Felicity decides to get back to her hacktivist roots. Idk if thats what he meant but it's the only thing I can think of that fits. Maybe it's set up in those eps but it's something that gets pay off at the end of her arc. I still think it might lead to her deciding to start smoak tech. 

[statsgirl]

1 hour ago, Angel12d said:

I know Felicity is second to Oliver in screentime. But it's what they do with that screentime that's my issue. For most of s5a she was just on comms, throwing out a funny every now and then or having a pointless scene with her pointless Mayo boyfriend. She's been totally cut off and isolated from everything/everyone that there's no real substance or connection anymore.

Exactly.  She's had screentime but it's been either servicing other character's plots of those horrible "funny" lines where they tried to reproduce s1 Felicity but ended up without the intelligence or the heart.

1 hour ago, apinknightmare said:

Don't get me wrong - Arrow writes garbage storylines, but Felicity "doing" for Thea is the whole point since everything she does for Thea gets her deeper in with Helix. Not saying *that* storyline won't be garbage, but...

Is this supposed to be like an addiction for her?  That the more she uses the evil data, the more she wants to?  If so, they did Laurel's s2 addiction arc better.

Right now, it seems like this is just convenient data for her to use. There's no moral tie-in at all, no loss of humanity other than in the two hints in 512. It's just normal Felicity having access to a great new data base.  She's not dark in the least right now, no connection to Billy much less to Havenrock or everything that happened to her up to now, and there's no sense that the more she uses it, the more she gets sucked into the darkness as there was with Sara and her LoA ties.

[Sunshine]

I guess we'll have to wait and see what Helix wants from Felicity in 5.16 to see if she really does something morally questionable.  Up until now it's just been business as usual.  I think she must be reevaluating her lack of life offscreen, which doesn't surprise me.

I assume the USB is just an access key which Helix can track and block from the database.

Reaching maybe, but if reporter's CI has a gambling problem is he former Argus, Helix or what?  I thought originally he might have tied into SCPD's corruption but why would they have access to a database with a picture of Oliver w/Bratva in Russia?  

Edited March 1, 2017 by Sunshine

[Chaser]

This plot line for Felicity is supposed to last until at least 5x20, but could possibly go to the finale.

They aren't going to go full throttle in every episode (like 5x12). I've actually been impressed that they've laid little seeds in every episode for Helix/Pandora.  

[insomniadreams88]

So the sneak peek.

I like that Tinah brings up the fact that she shouldn't be in there pretty much right away. 

But, Oliver, I'm pretty sure you have a very long list of things you should be more concerned about than Thea making things right with Susan. Oh, look, there's one of them, walking into your office right now.

[bijoux]

7 minutes ago, Soulfire said:

Gotta make things right with Susan. Hey, at least it's not like Thea should be handling an actual crisis.

[Belinea]

At some point Oliver must have hit his head really, really hard. And while I enjoy the fact that Oliver has a job, I am so done with politics (which is not the shows fault) It just bores me at the moment. But then again, it seems to bore Oliver too. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by Belinea

[way2interested]

To defend, it could be interpreted as Oliver caring more about Thea/her path over his own job, but gah the timing/execution of that is just so messy. Also, great, more reasons to like Chase since he's actually calling out and trying to take responsibility of the messiness of covering it up, only for them to probably reveal that he's Vigilante.

[statsgirl]

The big question for season 5:  Can Oliver get any stupider?

"No plan"

"Thea you have to make his right with Susan"

"I'm the mayor, I take responsibility"